Govt. Likely to Retain Policy to Reappoint Retired IIT & NIT Faculty Members

The central government is planning to retain the policy of reappointing retired faculty members of NITs and IITs to address the problem of vacant teaching posts and ensuring quality education. The government is intended to utilise the services of best faculty members of premier technical institutes for the benefit of students. At present, the proposal to retain retired faculty members is under consideration. If the proposal gets approval, the government might ask the retired faculty members to serve for at least five more years.

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Already, IITs and NITs have the provision to re-appoint retired faculty members. However, approval from President of India is mandatory to make such appointments. The premier institutes do not use this provision often. Over the last two years, only two retired faculty members have been reappointed. Now, the HRD Ministry is trying to make this provision effective.

Faculty shortage in premier institutes is one of the major issues that has been concerning the government over the years. Most of the Ph.D. scholars are not interested to engage in teaching after the completion of course. Therefore, it is becoming difficult for the government to address the issue of faculty shortage.

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After considering various recommendations and proposals for addressing faculty shortage, the centre has come up with Prime Minister Research Fellow (PMRF) scheme. Through this scheme, the government will select 1,000 students from premier institutes and offer them direct admission to the Ph.D. course with a clause that these students will have to engage themselves in teaching. The selected students will be also provided with a monthly fellowship of Rs. 75,000.